Top Cop Announces New Panel To Reinvigorate Community Policing

By Stephen Gossett in News on Oct 28, 2016 2:47PM

Photo: Scott Olson / Getty Images

Chicago was once a pioneer in community policing efforts, but such programs have seen a precipitous decline in effectiveness in recent years. Now, the Chicago Police Department is looking to reinvigorate the concept. Supt. Eddie Johnson announced on Thursday the creation of the Community Policing Advisory Panel, a 12-person panel of police officials, academics and community representatives.

The panel is tasked with formulating recommendations and streamlining a new strategy, which it will develop by the end of the first quarter of 2017. Chief of Patrol Fred Waller will chair the panel—which is made up of two other police officials along with four community leaders, three professors and two city officials, including Ald. Ariel Reboyras (30th Ward).

“Chicago was the birthplace and, at one time, a national model for community policing and we need to build upon this history to develop a community policing strategy for the 21st Century. I am grateful to have such a qualified group of individuals helping us develop these recommendations,” Johnson said in a press release. “To have an effective influence on reducing crime and building public trust, our strategy must give every Chicagoan equal treatment and respect.”

Among the panel’s duties are making an “an acknowledgement that Community Policing is the Department’s core philosophy” and devising strategy to reduce conflict between youth and CPD.

Chicago’s most prominent community policing program was the Chicago Alternative Policing Strategy (CAPS), but it now pales in comparison to its heyday in the '80s and '90s due to underfunding.

As the Chicago Reader reported in September:
"In 2016, CAPS has a budget of $3.9 million, less than a third of the funding it had in 1999 and 17 percent less than when Emanuel took office. The police department's overall budget has ballooned to $1.45 billion today; CAPS funding represents just 0.3 percent of CPD's overall budget."

“When you go to a CAPS meeting, it’s basically face-to-face 911. Neighbor has a complaint. Gives it to the cop. The sergeant waits 30 days and gets a report back. ... Face-to-face 911 is not authentic." Ald. Ricardo Munoz (22nd Ward) said on Thursday, according to the Sun-Times.